Canada could reopen Ukraine embassy imminently amid push to sell Russian assets: Joly

Joly on Wednesday morning also announced new sanctions against more than 200 people supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion from the eastern areas of Ukraine.

Canada’s embassy in Ukraine could reopen within a matter of days or weeks after officials shuttered it earlier this year in connection with Russia’s invasion of the sovereign democracy.

While Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said it’s not yet clear whether embassy staff would operate in the capital of Kyiv or the western city of Lviv, she said the goal is to be able to reopen imminently.

“We’re looking at several scenarios,” she told journalists in French on Wednesday morning.

That move could come amid a federal push to grant Joly new powers to seize and sell off Russian assets held in Canada in order to fund Ukraine’s recovery, and as Russia has threatened in recent days to step up targeting of “decision-making centers” in Kyiv.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday in a media scrum that he is unaware that Canada has seized any assets from Russian entities so far. Joly said in another scrum that if assets were seized without the ability to sell them, they would lose their whole value.

The government put a bill on notice on Tuesday night described as an act to implement certain provisions of the budget, and there is speculation it will include the new power to sell off Russian assets in that piece of legislation.

The soonest that legislation can be tabled is Thursday — 48 hours after it was put on notice.

Joly said Wednesday that the proposed new powers would be based on judicial orders — in other words, any bids to seize and sell Russian assets would need to be authorized by a judge.